LOGAN, W.Va. –Students at Logan Elementary School will return to the classroom next week after a fire damaged the school Saturday, though classes will be held in a different building.
The blaze was reported around 10:25 a.m. Saturday by personnel working at nearby Logan High School.
This week, Logan County Schools has focused on preparing to transition students to Logan Middle School.
Logan County Schools Communications Director Troy Alexander said the district plans to hold an open house Tuesday, March 3 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., with students set to begin classes the following day, Wednesday, March 4.
He said the district anticipates students will finish the school year at the middle school due to the extent of the repairs needed.
“After they get everything cleaned up there’s a hole in the roof they have to deal with and making sure the electrical is all up to standards after being exposed to the heat, water damage, so there’s a lot going on,” Alexander told MetroNews.
An office and storage room sustained the most significant damage, while the entire school experienced water and smoke damage. Investigators said the fire appears to be electrical in nature, but the investigation remains ongoing.
Alexander said students have been able to continue their schoolwork from home this week as they prepare to return to in-person classes.
“The students have been on snow packets all week, and they’ve just stayed at home, it’s kind of a blessing that they still had those snow packets available so we didn’t really change anything there, we could just say stay home and work on your things that you have in those packets that were provided at the beginning of the year,” he said.
As for teachers, he said Logan Elementary Principal Hillary Nelson met with them at the beginning of the week to discuss next steps. They were able to retrieve items from their classrooms Tuesday.
Some parents expressed concern about elementary students sharing a building with middle schoolers, but Alexander said the district will ensure the two groups remain separate.
“The way we are addressing that is we’re going to have them completely segregated, the elementary schoolers are going to be in their own part of the building, and the middle schoolers will be in their own part of the building, and they are never going to cross,” he said.
He also said there had been some rumors going around they planned on consolidating the elementary and middle schools together, but said that isn’t happening.
This week, the district began requesting donations of school supplies, including pencils, erasers, cleaning supplies, paint brushes and more.
Alexander said the community came together and exceeded the district’s needs.
“It’s really incredibly, you know at the end of last weekend, after we had just been dealing with this fire, it was what are we going to do to get these kids back into school as fast as possible, and they community has helped us take a huge step forward,” he said.
For more information you can visit the Logan Elementary Schools website here.